PARIS — Groupe Clarins published third-quarter net sales of 214.7 million euros, or $269.2 million at current exchange, down 9.8 percent year-on-year. On a like-for-like basis, excluding losses from the termination of its distribution agreement with Procter & Gamble in the U.S., revenues at the Paris-based beauty firm rose 1.6 percent.
For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Clarins’ business fell 1.3 percent to 689.3 million euros, or $864.2 million. At constant group structure and exchange rates, revenues increased 6.2 percent, slightly exceeding its annual target of 6 percent.
Sales at Clarins’ beauty division, which the company focused on this year, grew 10.4 percent to 468.4 million, or $587.3 million. As expected, the company’s fragrance business declined 19.5 percent to 220.9 million euros, or $276.9 million, due to the lack of major launches and the difficult nine-month comparison, given that Azzaro’s Silver Black and Thierry Mugler’s Alien had boosted the division’s sales 29.1 percent over the first nine months of 2004. On a like-for-like basis, the fragrance division’s sales rose 0.7 percent in the first nine months of this year.